I'm preparing for my cake decorating class tonight, which involves baking a cake (I made chocolate) and about nine cups of frosting. Seriously, my waistline has expanded since starting these classes. What's a girl to do? Is it really possible to *not* eat cake?

Studio work continues. Yesterday I primed and painted the window trim for the "faux" skylights and still need to add another coat of paint. I also worked on the headboard and filled in the nail holes in the steps and also in the trim work hubs added to the studio a few days ago.

This coming weekend, I hope to get the ceiling painted and the fan and ceiling lights installed after their makeovers. I went to get the paint yesterday for the fan and the one light I have left to do and it was all gone - and was still out of stock today. It is Krylon Brown Camouflage spray paint. Yes, I know...that is quite the choice for paint but I've used this particular paint and color for so many applications and absolutely love it. It is a matte finish and sprays on so easily - and looks very much like oil rubbed bronze. You can add a clear coat as well for protection and sheen. I always hate to run out of it as it is my first choice for anything that I need painted brown. Try it out and see if you like it! (See the topiary in the photos above? The container was a terra cotta color but I painted it with the camouflage paint!)

If you haven't yet, please put your guess in for my studio remodel guessing contest. You all have come up with a lot of great and creative ideas for that antique headboard already! Thanks for playing!

It's Saturday evening and hubs and I just wrapped up another afternoon of working on my studio. We've finished putting in the rest of the trim work (baseboards, trim around the stairs) with the exception of the skylight window trim. He did cut the pieces for me but I want to paint them before he installs them to avoid getting paint on my "sky" mural. Hubs also removed the ugly ceiling fan and the other two ceiling lights so that I can paint them a dark chocolate brown! I've painted one already and it looks a thousand times better. How I wish I could have prettier ceiling lighting altogether but this is a budget makeover and if I can't change the lighting style, I can surely change the color! And as much as I hate ceiling fans (see in the photo how much dust mine has collected!), in this room, one is absolutely necessary. I do have additional lighting that I will be adding to the space, and maybe even a little chandelier above my desk if hubs can make the cord longer. It's been boxed up forever and I'd love to use it).

Now about that contest! I have lots of furniture pieces that I'm making over or building for my new space. I will somehow be using this antique headboard. I bought it quite a while ago for $5 or $10 dollars. Can you believe that!

To the person that correctly guesses what I will be using this antique headboard for in my studio, I will send to them some of my faux candies as a prize:) If more than one person guesses correctly, I'll put their names in a hat and draw a winner. To make it fun, try not looking at the other guesses when you post your guess. I'd love to see what you all come up with! Only one guess per person, please, and you must include a way for me to contact you if you are the winner.

I'm keeping this contest open until I am finished revamping the headboard and probably after it is in it's place in my completed studio...that may be a month or so from now. But the more guesses, the better!

Have fun!

Oh, I forgot to tell you - I decorated my first real cake on Tuesday in my cake decorating class. Hop on over to my other blog to take a look!

My first couple of classes have been wonderful. I really wish I would have done this sooner...it's so much fun.

I made my first real cake on Tuesday and we worked on it in class. I only got a few things filled in during class and then brought it home to complete it. I wanted this cake to be for my girls, so I really kind of over did it, lol, because 1)They love cake with lots of icing and girly goodness (that is, except for my tomboy, but she didn't complain!) 2)I wanted to be able to practice different techniques on a real cake and 3)It's just so much fun to decorate a cake!

So here is my over-the-top frosted cake for my girls. The lighting in the photos is not that great as I was in a hurry when I took them and didn't use a tripod as I usually do. You can click on the photos to enlarge them. I need a lot of practice but the girls loved it! I know I should have used medium consistency icing for the blue flowers/stars but it was late and I just grabbed and used what I had in the fridge - which was a bit thinner. Again, I figured the girls wouldn't mind so long as they could eat it! Next week in class, we make a clown cake.

I know everyone has probably seen photos of my sunroom / office / future craft studio a million times, but for the sake of comparison later, I wanted to share some photos of my "studio in progress". We're coming up on the second weekend of work in here and I was able to get a head start on it last night and today.

By the way, if you'd like to see the *BEFORE* before photos (that is, what the space looked like months ago when I was just dreaming of a studio), just click here.

I took out the banister and carpet on the steps quite a while back, but last weekend we patched the walls as well as insulated the ceiling where the old sky lights use to be. We removed the poorly installed skylights years ago when we replaced the roof and will someday even remove the current old ceiling. The beadboard is ok (I love beadboard!) but it's the thin imitation beadboard and wasn't exactly installed with the greatest of care. So for now, we are left with recessed "patches" on the ceiling, as I call them. My solution to the eyesores was to paint a sky mural within each of the square holes to give the effect of skylights. I painted the murals today but will show them to you later:) I still have one sweet detail to add, plus this weekend hubs will be adding a nice wide moulding around the perimeter of each skylight. When the moulding is up, caulked, and painted, I'll take some photos. But I will tell you that I LOVE how the murals have turned out so far. I didn't know what I was going to do with those big ugly plywood holes, but I really think the murals were just the right solution.

So this is what the studio looked like last night. I apologize for the dark photos - I rarely photograph at night for this reason. It is a small space for sure, but I think the tall ceilings and lots of natural light will make the studio feel less cramped.

(Has anyone seen my ladder?)

What is really exciting for me is that I've finally figured out a color scheme! The walls are *not* going to be the same as kitchen and living room as I thought I would probably choose. I'm going to keep it a little secret until after they are painted, but if you have any good guesses or opinions, I'd love to hear them! I will say that the accent colors I'll be using are white, off-white, and chocolate brown (neutrals that go with just about any color, I think). Choosing paint colors is soooo hard - there are too many options!

We started on my studio last weekend, and boy, what a lot of work! I'll be sure to post photos when there is something interesting to photograph:) For now, we've mainly been working on patching the walls and insulating the parts of the ceiling that weren't completely insulated. Work continues this weekend:) There were once sky lights in the studio room...and now there are just plywood "patches" that are quite the eyesores! We removed the skylights when we added a new roof a few years back and have been waiting to deal with the interior holes when we redo the ceiling. We're not ready for that, so I've had to come up with a creative way to make those square patches look like they belong. I finally decided that I would (try to) paint a pretty cloudy sky mural within each of the four squares and trim it out in a nice crisp white moulding. Hopefully the effect will realistic - we shall see! I hope to tackle that soon (this weekend or next) so I'll be sure to post some before and afters! I'm so anxious to have the studio finished because my materials and creations are taking over the rest of the house!

Hubs was also able to get around to mudding the seams of the new drywall in the hallway. Still lots of sanding, reapplying mud, sanding, etc., to go, but it looks sooo much better already! I can't believe we can walk down the hall now without seeing a single stud!

I've been experimenting with my faux creations and wanted to share one of them - a chocolate cupcake - with you...You can read more about it on my faux dessert blog if you like.

I'm really thrilled with how my first chocolate cupcakes have turned out. I've decorated more, but thought I would feature this pink sweetheart today:) This is my first cupcake using the new materials I've been experimenting with over the last couple of weeks, including faux "fondant" flowers! Since making this cupcake, I've discovered a different "recipe" for stiffer, "perkier" frosting, but I still love the creamy, dreamy look of this particular version, too. I designed the crepe paper wrapper (CupCrepe™ Wrapper) in my head a few weeks ago but wasn't quite sure how I would assemble it. It took a bit of experimentation but it finally came together! The CupCrepe™ Wrappers will be available in many delicious color:) I've found that I love adding many layers of paper liners for added color and texture. This week I've received a lot of new supplies that I'm looking forward to putting to good uses!

We started on my studio last weekend, and boy, what a lot of work! I'll be sure to post photos when there is something interesting to photograph:) For now, we've mainly been working on patching the walls and insulating the parts of the ceiling that weren't completely insulated. Work continues this weekend:) I'm anxious to have it finished because my materials and creations are taking over the rest of the house!

Things are really starting to take off here in preparation for the opening of my shop! I was one of the vendors selected to set up an online shop at Lollishops, a new "Frou-Frou Friendly" marketplace that is set to open toward the end of this year. So as you can imagine, I've been busy designing my product line along with a new oh-so-sweet color palette. Below is a sample of some of the the yummy colors I'll be using on my candies, cupcakes, cookies, petit fours, brownies, lollipops, sugar cubes, gumballs - you name it! And don't worry, I'll still have plenty of chocolate "flavors" as well - milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate...mmmm!

Lately in my "cupcake laboratory" I've been working on making the cake part of my cupcakes a little more realistic looking. I like the idea of a bit of the cake peeking out from under the frosting. I've experimented with both smooth top cupcakes and then those with a bit of texture, as well as varying degrees of "rise" (low, medium, and high to accommodate various designs).

Here are a few cupcakes right out of the oven (not really!) and ready for their "sugar on top":) Imagine them decked out in piped fluffy frosting in some of the colors above, along with "fondant" flowers, (in)edible beads, colored sugar, or a cherry on top!

Along with working on my products, we are about to begin work on my home studio. My dear husband will be building my workstations and shelving units and I can't wait to have a place to call my own:)

And lastly, next week I begin attending classes to become a certified Wilton cake decorator! It will take about four months to complete all four courses and my plan is to take the courses consecutively. I think it's best for me to take the classes during the fall and winter because once spring and summer arrive, my schedule seems to be twice as hectic. I've been wanting to do this for a while now and am really excited about getting started!